Thanks to Aphoristical for pointing me to this song and album. At the end of 2005, years after the band had broken up…Warner Music Group ended up with rights to the Replacements’ Twin/Tone albums, and their entire catalog was finally placed under one roof. They offered Westerberg and Stinson a deal for the band to reunite and record. They wanted to package a “Best Of” album with a few new songs.
They had been feuding with each other off and on since the break up. Westerberg and Stinson ended their feud and agreed to do it. They did not invite Slim Dunlap to participate for some reason. They did however invite drummer Chris Mars to join them. They patched things up with Mars but he was an artist and doing it for a living and didn’t want to play. He did come to the sessions anyway. Drummer Josh Freese had flown out to play drums. To show you how they operated…here is Westerberg’s thought on that.
“And Chris, he was still a Replacement…The first thing out of his mouth to Josh was something like, ‘Man, you almost played that really good.’ That’s what we missed. You don’t have to play the drums. You can just bring the attitude.”
The band recorded two songs Message to the Boys and Pool and Dive. They appeared on the album Don’t You Know Who I Think I Was? They didn’t end up touring at that time but offers came in year after year and the money offers got bigger.
Westerberg: “The fact that we came up short is the thing that’s kept us interesting. That is part of the attraction. We’ve retained this mystique.”
Paul and Tommy would later reunite again in 2012. Former guitar player Slim Dunlap had a major stroke and they contributed to a benefit album of Slim’s songs along with many artists. In 2013 they started to play live again and eventually toured until 2015 when it ended abruptly.
Paul Westerberg about the reunion in 2006 and missing former member Bob Stinson: “The answer to the million-dollar question is yes, when Bob died, something died in me and Tommy, and we’ve never been the same since,” said Westerberg. “And it’s always been awkward, and it’s always been unsaid and unsayable and strange and weird between us.”
This concludes taking a song off of each album from the Replacements… thanks for following here every Monday. I’ll still post some Replacements here and there.
Message To The Boys
Well I met her in a bar
Like I always say
She was digging Tommy’s cute
Way down in FLA
Wearing that vest with nothing underneath
Looking her best in the Florida heat
Sent a message to the boys
She was wearing that vest with nothing underneath
She be looking her best in the Florida heat, yeah
Sent a message to the boys
Well, she couldn’t cut loose
With her mommy around
So she packed her pretty bags
Went to the run-away town
Used to call me late at night
Said she missed her little maid
I never asked twice how the bills got paid
She sent a message to the boys
Used to call me every night
Said she missed her little maid
Never ever asked twice how the bills got paid
Sent the message to the boys
She sent a message to the boys
She’s gonna be there, if you need her
I can’t forget her and her voice
And her voice
Was a lady to the end
Now to this I can attest
She knew how to move
Yeah, when she rock’n’rolled this
She sent a message to the boys
She’s gonna be there, if you need her
I can’t forget her and her voice
She sent a message to the boys
She sent a message to the boys
God, I miss her and her voice
She sent a message to the boys
She sent a message to the boys
Oh god, I miss her and her voice
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This should be the Florida State song as I really like that line, “looking her best in the Florida heat”.
Thanks for featuring this one! I like it, but I also like Westerberg’s solo stuff too.
Thanks for reccomending it…I liked it as soon as I heard it. I’ve listened to 14 songs mostly and I do like it…I also like his SoundCloud songs.
Almost everything he’s done in the 21st century has pretty much been recorded in his basement I think!
Yes I saw an interview where Tommy was bitching about that…about him being in his basement and not recording anywhere else.
1996’s Eventually does sound pretty sterile, and he’s never really gone for a big studio sound ever since.
not bad… sounded like a song that could have been from the Stones ’60s or early-’70s catalog.
That is what I like about them…for the most part they avoided the 80s big production…of course this was later on.
I like it. You know what it reminds me of? Change of Heart by The Heartbreakers…faster tempo and a few chord changes…but, they are similar. And, considering they are singing about Florida, possible tribute?
Well they did open for Tom….and all wore his wife’s dresses so you never know lol.
They wore his wife’s dresses???
In Nashville they were bored… and yea drinking was involved…they broke into the Heartbreakers wardrobe and got Tom’s wife’s clothes plus the other Heartbreaker’s wife clothes and wore them on stage lol.
How did that go over?
As far as the audience I don’t know…I wish I would have gone!
And, the Heartbreakers? Were they all amused?
I’ve never known lol…I would have to be!
LOL!
That pic at the top proves that these guys liked to party. lol
LOL and probably still do
Great tune – another Replacements song I didn’t know!
That one didn’t come out until 2006…I didn’t know that one either!
Nice and smooth.
Like you Max, I liked it right off the top. A gem.